WD1600JB for $198 at Sam's Club

[fenrir]

Originally posted by: DEFIANT1

Originally posted by: wje
2) The card was also included (along with a driver) because Windows can only "see" 137 GB of space. If you are running Windows XP, then you need to get SP1 installed to get beyone this limitation.

Then the software (2x120 WD "JB") 240GB RAID 0 Stripe, and the hardware (3x100 WD "SE") 200GB RAID 5 stripe that I'm running must be a figment of my imagination. Wait...<clicks "My Computer"> There they are! Same as it was before I applied SP1 to XP Pro....

So what, exactly are you basing that claim on? I'm drooling at the possibilities of a monster file-server with some ultra-large drives. Can you say "A terrabyte"??

I knew you could

How about you go out and do a little reading on IDE drives and their limits. Putting drives in a RAID array is not the same as a single drive. They are handled differently. Again, do a little reading and you will understand what others are talking about.

Matt

 

[Mallow]

I love Sam's Club. Cheap stuff everywhere... especially photo's.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: fenrir

Originally posted by: DEFIANT1

Originally posted by: wje
2) The card was also included (along with a driver) because Windows can only "see" 137 GB of space. If you are running Windows XP, then you need to get SP1 installed to get beyone this limitation.

Then the software (2x120 WD "JB") 240GB RAID 0 Stripe, and the hardware (3x100 WD "SE") 200GB RAID 5 stripe that I'm running must be a figment of my imagination. Wait...<clicks "My Computer"> There they are! Same as it was before I applied SP1 to XP Pro....

So what, exactly are you basing that claim on? I'm drooling at the possibilities of a monster file-server with some ultra-large drives. Can you say "A terrabyte"??

I knew you could

How about you go out and do a little reading on IDE drives and their limits. Putting drives in a RAID array is not the same as a single drive. They are handled differently. Again, do a little reading and you will understand what others are talking about.

Matt

fenrir,

Thanks for adding a follow-up. Yes, there are other ways around the 137 GB limitations (RAID array, etc.) - but, DEFIANT1 needs to re-read my post. I simply stated in "layman's terms" why the card was included.

When I installed my 160 GB "SE" drive, I refused to use the included controller card or any of the supplied drivers by WD. I needed to find a resolution using my motherboard and its built-in IDE controllers. My motherboard is a Shuttle AK31a. First, I updated the BIOS so the drive would be properly recognized. Then, when the drive was installed under XP, I could only use 137 GB of it. The remaining space could not be seen or addressed by Windows XP. Updating XP with SP1 was the solution to get all 160 GB recognized.

 

[DEFIANT1]

I consider myself properly *slapped*

mea culpa

 

[w3b]

too bad Sam's doesn't take Amex... otherwise I'll be all over this...

 

[MrJangles]

Couple of things:

First, sxr7171 is right about it being a better deal, but it's slightly better than what was shown. Because you have to pay tax on the cost of the drive (before rebate), you'll be paying effectively a higher tax percentage for the CompUSA drive with the rebate. For example, in TN (where the sales taxes are ridiculous) I would get (with tax):

120GB drive = $220.49 - $50 = $170.49 ==> $1.421/GB
160GB drive = $218.30 ==============> $1.364/GB

the CompUSA 80 giger comes out cheaper than that per GB ($1.29/GB) but I think this is a better deal since you don't have to wait on the rebates and drives this big usually cost a good bit more per GB than the mid-size drives.


Also, there were at least 3 still at the Sam's off I-40 exit 199 (Old Hickory Blvd) in Nashville, when I left last night. It hurts my brain to try to remember something like that this early, but I think they also had a good price on the 80GB drives right next to the 160s.

 

[tedinde1]

The deal isnt the size of the hd the deal is the speed. My WD1200jb on HDtach get's 49mbs max, and 40mbs average, I just picked up two of these drives, 56mbs max, and 48.2 mbs average now. Seek times went down from 14.9 to 12.8.

That's the hot deal.

And that's against my already fast 1200JB, My seagae 80 7200 get's 36 AVERAGE.

 

[ROTC1983]

Originally posted by: w3b
too bad Sam's doesn't take Amex... otherwise I'll be all over this...

I still don't understand that...money is money...they should accept anything...

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: ROTC1983

Originally posted by: w3b
too bad Sam's doesn't take Amex... otherwise I'll be all over this...

I still don't understand that...money is money...they should accept anything...

But, when you go to your local Sam's club, they are restrictive in the cards that they accept. I'm sure they don't want to have to pay 3% to Visa, 3% to Mastercard, 3% to Discover, 3%+ to Amex - you get the picture. The more credit cards they accept, the higher their operating expenses are - which equates to higher prices for us consumers. Sure, it would be good if Sam's club was "full service" like most of our retailers, but then we wouldn't see 160 GB drives for $198 - they would be $329 (before rebates) like CompUSA.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: tedinde1
The deal isnt the size of the hd the deal is the speed. My WD1200jb on HDtach get's 49mbs max, and 40mbs average, I just picked up two of these drives, 56mbs max, and 48.2 mbs average now. Seek times went down from 14.9 to 12.8.

That's the hot deal.

And that's against my already fast 1200JB, My seagae 80 7200 get's 36 AVERAGE.

Actually Storage Review reports indicate that the new drives have longer seek times vs. the older 1200JB series. Even though transfer rates went up, the overall performance of the drives were similar. I still wonder if Storage Review got a bad sample though, because it is unusual for a newer product (especially from WD) to have worse performance in certain parameters.

Now, if the performance is clearly better then that would also be my reason for wanting it over a 1200JB and it would have more value to me.

 

[ROTC1983]

Originally posted by: wje

Originally posted by: ROTC1983

Originally posted by: w3b
too bad Sam's doesn't take Amex... otherwise I'll be all over this...

I still don't understand that...money is money...they should accept anything...

But, when you go to your local Sam's club, they are restrictive in the cards that they accept. I'm sure they don't want to have to pay 3% to Visa, 3% to Mastercard, 3% to Discover, 3%+ to Amex - you get the picture. The more credit cards they accept, the higher their operating expenses are - which equates to higher prices for us consumers. Sure, it would be good if Sam's club was "full service" like most of our retailers, but then we wouldn't see 160 GB drives for $198 - they would be $329 (before rebates) like CompUSA.

Yeah, you are right...I didn't even think about that...

 

[w3b]

I think they get discounted rates when they only accept certain cards... it could be that or maybe because Costco has special arrangements with Amex...

 

[tedinde1]

Ghost 2003 is not liking this drive. I bought 5 of them. Sold 3 already and 2 to replace my WD1200's that are sold tuesday.

I tested the single drive speed in HD tach. Max 56mbs with 50mbs average, My 8meg wd1200's are 49mbs max and 40.2 average.

HD tach doesnt read my raid speeds right for some reason. But a very nice upgrade for me and more space.